No. 7 Maryland takes off after Nebraska women whistled for technical​

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Amy Williams raised both of her hands and waved them in disgust toward the far end of the court. Officials didn’t like the gesture, served up a technical foul to the Nebraska women’s basketball coach and sent the Huskers into a tailspin at No. 7 Maryland.

A competitive game — the Terrapins led by eight before the key sequence — thus turned into an 89-63 rout Thursday night. Nebraska has had its share of ugly losses against the Big Ten’s premier program, and for all the good things NU (11-14 overall, 6-8 Big Ten) did through 2½ quarters — strong rebounding, even better 3-point shooting — a meltdown erased it.

It was Nebraska’s worst loss of the season. The Terrapins also dealt the Huskers their second-worst loss of the season.

Nebraska junior forward Nicea Eliely scored a season-high 18 points while freshman guard Sam Haiby scored 11. The Huskers won the board battle 42-41 over the league’s best rebounding team, but committed 19 costly turnovers to just eight by the Terrapins.

“It’s incredible to look and see we outrebounded, but we still gave up 14 second-chance points to them,” Williams said on her postgame radio show. “They just keep coming at you.”

Maryland (23-2, 12-2) had five players in double figures and scored 36 of the final 54 points, including a 16-0 run over the final 3:04 of the third quarter. The run started when forward Brianna Fraser scored on a layup.

Nebraska forward Kayla Mershon was whistled for a foul. Williams reacted. Both teams went to a media break, Maryland hit two free throws after the timeout for a 57-45 lead and the blitz was on. The Terrapins hit a trio of 3-pointers, including one at the third-quarter buzzer, and Nebraska missed shot after shot.

Maryland jumped to a 9-0 lead to start the game, but Nebraska cut the Terrapins’ lead to 22-15 by the end of the first quarter. Williams said Maryland “heated up” the Huskers early with its defense.

Midway through the second, a 3-pointer by Taylor Kissinger brought NU within 29-26. Maryland immediately answered with a 6-0 run. The Terrapins led 41-34 at halftime.

“Once we settled in, I was proud of the way we kind of scratched and clawed to be competitive in the second quarter,” Williams said.

In second half, guard Hannah Whitish was whistled for her own technical foul — she barked at a ref after she thought she was fouled — three minutes before Williams’ technical.

Nebraska plays next on Sunday at 3 p.m., when it hosts Michigan State, which lost handily to Wisconsin on Thursday night.